


Liebeslieder (Love Songs)

by atthis



Category: Pacific Rim (2013)
Genre: Canon-Compliant Alliteration, Drift Side Effects, Gratuitous Use of Proper German Poetry, M/M, Post-Canon, Science Boyfriends
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-03
Updated: 2016-11-03
Packaged: 2018-08-28 20:49:25
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8462464
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/atthis/pseuds/atthis
Summary: “Politics and poetry, promises - these are lies. Numbers are as close as we get to the handwriting of God.” ~ Dr. Hermann Gottlieb.After the Drift, Hermann discovers new ways to read the handwriting of God.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Hover over the German text to see an English translation. You can also find it in the end notes.

1\. Poetry

It starts after the Drift.

_Aus deiner Stirne steigen Laub und Leier,_ 1

The lines swim up into the surface of Hermann's mind at random moments, unbidden. At first, he assumes they are his own memories - slight glitches in the usually reliable working of his brain, throwing up odd, old fragments he must have read once in a schoolroom.

_und alles Deine geht schon im Vergleich  
durch Liebeslieder,_ 2

Some are in English, some in French. But the brightest words resonate in his Muttersprache.

_deren Worte, weich_  
_wie Rosenblätter, dem, der nicht mehr liest,  
sich auf die Augen legen, die er schließt:  
um dich zu sehen:_ 3

There are other changes after the Drift. Sharing minds makes it impossible to deny what has been between them from the start. Newton and he stop resisting, and fall into each other.

It’s lovely. They still argue all the time, but just as often they complete each other’s sentences, each other’s thoughts. One evening, a few weeks after the Drift, Hermann finds Newton on their sofa in the lab, reading a battered, blue-stained volume of Rilke.

Newton recites some lines aloud to him. And Hermann concedes that perhaps not all of it is a lie.

2\. Promises

_Und plötzlich ist er Flamme, ganz und gar._ 4

“Don’t stop,” Hermann whispers urgently. There is sweat dripping down his spine, and he knows he is overexerting his bad leg, but these thoughts are drowned by a crushing wave of need.

“I won’t,” Newton promises, sounding at once both shaky and determined.

"Please," Hermann asks again. He can't help it - he can’t seem to get enough. 

Newton keeps on promising, keeps on touching him. He doesn't stop.

3\. Politics

Newton visibly tries not to laugh. “You do realize that wacky little speech you gave, about numbers and God or whatever - it had both alliteration and metaphor in it, right?”  
Hermann huffs. “It wasn’t intentional.”  
“Well, it happened before we drifted, dude, so you can’t blame that one on me.”

After the Drift, Hermann still loves his numbers, maybe more than before; but he discovers some new ways to read the handwriting of God. In Newton’s music and poetry, in his promises, even in the garish kaijus (“The plural is kaiju, Herms!”) on his skin.

_Doch alles, was uns anrührt, dich und mich,  
nimmt uns zusammen wie ein Bogenstrich,  
die aus zwei Saiten eine Stimme zieht._ 5

They are each awarded a medal for their contribution to the effort that saved the world. The smile Newt gives him at the ceremony has Hermann thinking that maybe politics isn’t so bad after all.

**Author's Note:**

> Quotes are from three poems by Rainer Maria Rilke: “Die Gazelle” (The Gazelle), “Spanische Tänzerin” (Spanish Dancer) and “Liebes-Lied” (Love Song).
> 
> Translation:  
> 1 Out of your forehead branch and lyre climb,  
> 2 and all your features pass in simile,  
> through love songs  
> 3 whose words, as light as rose-  
> petals, rest on the face of someone who  
> has put his book away and shut his eyes:  
> to see you:  
> 4 And all at once it is flame, utterly.  
> 5 And yet everything which touches us, you and me,  
> takes us together like a single bow,  
> drawing out from two strings but one voice.
> 
> Do let me know if you find errors.  
> Thank you for reading. Comments always appreciated.


End file.
